Four Saplings To Be Planted For Every Surgery Under ‘Naatho Green Miles’

Vijayawada: Orthopaedic surgeon and joint replacement specialist Dr Boosireddy Narendra Reddy on Tuesday announced a new initiative, “Naatho Green Miles”, under which four saplings will be planted for every joint replacement surgery performed at Sai Bhaskar Hospital.

Announcing the initiative at the “Better Walk, Better Breathe” programme in Vijayawada, Dr Narendra Reddy said the project forms part of the hospital’s Vision 2030 strategy, which aims to make robotic-assisted joint replacement surgery the standard mode of treatment while promoting environmental sustainability.

Under the programme, two saplings will be given to each patient undergoing surgery, while the remaining two will be planted in and around Guntur through the Green Earth Foundation. Dr Narendra Reddy said the initiative focuses not only on planting saplings but also on ensuring their survival and growth. Through the Evergreen Foundation, established in 2021, nearly 8,000 saplings have been planted, of which around 5,000 have survived.

He said the hospital is working towards achieving 100 per cent robotic-assisted joint replacement surgeries by 2030. Clarifying misconceptions about robotic surgery, he said robots do not independently perform operations but function as precision-guided tools controlled entirely by surgeons.

Dr Narendra Reddy said comparative scientific studies evaluating robotic-assisted and conventional surgeries are underway and their findings will be released in due course.

He also noted that the Unnathi Foundation’s free joint replacement surgery programme, launched at Guntur Government General Hospital in 2016, has benefited 145 patients so far, with procedures worth more than `1 crore provided free of cost.